Introduction to the workshop
This work is based on the work of Joanna Macy the founder of the Work That Reconnects and John Seed, founder of the Rainforest Information Centre.
These Councils have been held around the world since the 1980s in this format, to give voice to the more than human beings in the Great Turning/Great Unravelling.
By embodying them through a mask making process, these beings can offer us an opportunity to journey through the spiral and See With their Eyes, ending with a strong sense of Going Forth thanks to the gifts that they in turn will have to offer us.
Please contact us if you would like to host a Council of All Beings ritual on your land or for your organisation.
Extracts from the book “Thinking Like a Mountain” 1988, by John Seed:
This idea comes from indigenous cultures, who, for some of them, when an important decision was going to be made, every being who was going to be impacted had a voice on the council. So, if trees were going to be cut down, one person would be designated to represent Trees interest. If a river was going to be impacted, someone would be designated to represent the interested of River. And that voice would have an equal voice and vote on the council.
[…] Imagine the world we could have now if we could get back to that kind of interconnectedness and reverence to all of life. We don’t need to go into all the things that are wrong with our planet right now but if you are here I’m guessing you have a sense of the magnitude of the problem. We are in the middle of a mass extinction of historic proportions […]
Setting of intention:
It’s important that we humans, who are part of the species responsible for this extinction, come together and state our intentions:
Our coming together and embodying more than human beings heals the illusion of separation and helps usher in a life sustaining, compassionate world for all beings
– Joanna Tomkins- facilitator- Gaia Speaking, in past renditions of this ritual
Gaia Speaking 